Four Trees Upon a Solitary Acre
poem 742
Four Trees Upon a Solitary Acre - meaning Summary
Solitary Trees, Quiet Purpose
Dickinson presents four trees on a single acre as quiet, unplanned beings whose significance is ordinary and inscrutable. The poem notes their regular encounters with sun and wind, their isolation from human neighbors, and a solitary relation to God. Their immediate functions—casting shadow, hosting squirrels, attracting a boy—are simple and local. Yet the poem ends by questioning their contribution to "General Nature," suggesting that living things can have effects and purposes that are subtle, dispersed, or unknowable rather than dramatic or deliberately designed.
Read Complete AnalysesFour Trees upon a solitary Acre Without Design Or Order, or Apparent Action Maintain The Sun upon a Morning meets them The Wind No nearer Neighbor have they But God The Acre gives them Place They Him Attention of Passer by Of Shadow, or of Squirrel, haply Or Boy What Deed is Theirs unto the General Nature What Plan They severally retard or further Unknown
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